It is the symbol of our divided times, but Americans can only consider the arc of President Donald Trump’s border wall from his first “BUILD A WALL!” tweet on Aug. 5, 2014, through the 35-day government shutdown that ended on Jan. 25 with Congress resisting Trump’s call for $5.7 billion for a more secure barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. All this wall talk has prevented nuanced, necessary debates about border security and immigration.

Such as on staffing levels of the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

In his first week in office, Trump signed orders calling for 5,000 more Border Patrol positions and 10,000 more ICE positions than were already authorized. “You need help,” he said, “you need more.” But as the Los Angeles Times reported last Sunday, the agencies have thousands more vacancies than when Trump signed the orders two years ago. Meanwhile, a 2017 Homeland Security inspector general report has questioned the need for 15,000 new officers.

Far from increasing in size, the Border Patrol’s problems with attrition are so severe that it has only had a net increase of agents once in the past five years — a gain of 120 in 2018. While Trump has authorized 26,370 positions, only about 19,600 are now filled. That’s 2,000 less than in 2010 and less than in any one year under President Barack Obama.

The reasons for recruitment problems are plain. Border Patrol jobs are physically and mentally demanding, relatively dangerous and often in remote areas. Many applicants are weeded out by requirements they take drug and polygraph tests, disclose finances, and pass cognitive, fitness and medical exams and a law enforcement background check.

The individuals who qualify for Border Patrol jobs also can readily find other law enforcement positions. As National Public Radio reported in December, there are many police openings across the nation. Between a strong job market offering other career opportunities and criticism of police conduct, the number of sworn peace officers has fallen by about 23,000 since 2013. These factors also make it difficult to retain agents who are hired.

Yet instead of taking the obvious step to get and retain more Border Patrol agents — proposing better pay and benefits — the Trump administration has been mum. (Average compensation for an entry-level agent is $52,583 with some making more or less based on locality, overtime and premium pay.)

Recruitment and retention problems are also profound for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — even though it pays more than the Border Patrol, doesn’t require passage of a polygraph test and has far fewer positions in remote areas. But the agency has only added 1,325 investigators and deportation officers in the two years since Trump’s order — not even enough to make up for the 800 officers it normally loses to attrition each year. As with Border Patrol agents, ICE agents have other options in law enforcement — at agencies that have not been vilified by pro-immigration activists.

Trump himself canceled a 2.1 percent pay bump Border Patrol and ICE agents were due in January.

Between the changing dynamics of those trying to enter the U.S. (more women and children, fewer single men, more from Central America, fewer Mexicans) and of immigration enforcement (fewer detentions at the border, more inland), the federal government needs to be on top of its game with immigration. But the Border Patrol-ICE hiring fiasco makes a key element of Trump’s policy seem like nothing more than bad theater. The next time the president denounces Democrats for not taking border issues seriously, he should look in the mirror. The complexities of border staffing demand more than a sound bite and a short attention span.